Sounding-board foe



C. MEYER. SOUNDING BOARD.

No '7 494. Patented July 9, 1850.

If l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

C. MEYER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SOUNDING-'BOARD FOR PIANOS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 7,494, dated July 9, 1850.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CONRAD MEYER, of the city and county ofPhiladelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in the Sounding- Boards of Musical StringedInstruments, such as Pianos, Violins, Violoncellos, Bass Viols, &c.; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a partof this specification.

Figure l, is a top view of the sounding board of a piano, as improved byme, Fig. 2, a view of its under side, and Fig. 3, a verticallongitudinal section through the center of the same.

Similar letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

The nature of my invention consists in supporting the bridge C, (onwhich the strings rest) upon a thin auxiliary piece of board B, securedover an opening formed in the ordinary sounding board A, substantiallyas represented in the drawings. The length and width of the opening inthe sounding board covered by the auxiliary board B, may be varied asmay be found expedient in practice. In pianos, the opening in thesounding board may extend the entire length of the bridge, or only underthat portion of it on which the bass strings rest.

The auxiliary board B, that supports the bridge C, over the openingformed in the ordinary sounding board, can be made very thin, and yethave suflicientA stiness, in consequence of the short distance betweenits supports: this t-hin bridge board will therefore vibrate moresensitively, and consequently cause a fuller and more perfect tone to beproduced with an instrument in which it is introduced, than can beproduced with an instrument constructed in the usual manner, where thebridge rests directly on the sounding board. The bass notes inparticular, in an instrument having my improved sounding board, havenearly double the power that they have in an instrument constructed inthe usual manner.

The value of my improvement in the sounding boards of pianos, has beenfully tested by experiment. An instrument supplied with one of myimproved sounding boards, has been standing in my ware-room for the pasteight weeks; during which time it has been fully tested by the bestjudges. The superiority of the tone of the instrument has been alwaysnoticed at t-he first touch upon the keys, and the universal verdict hasbeen that this instrument is superior in its tone to every other ofsimilar cost, that the performers have ever played upon. The soundingboard A, may be composed of two parts, one in each side of the openingunder the bridge base B, and be united to each other by means of thebridge board.

Having thus fully described my improvement in the sounding boards ofmusical stringed nstrumentS, What I claim therein'f as my invention anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The supporting the bridge (C,) upon a thin base piece (B,) secured overan opening formed in the ordinary sounding board, (A,) substantially inthe manner and for the purpose as herein set forth.

The above specification signed and witnessed this 10th day of May 1850.

' CONRAD MEYER.

Vitnesses:

Z. C. ROBBINS, J @HN SGHWEHZER,

